The Lady and The Tramp
by Bloody Priestess
Summary: Set in Victorian London. The sheltered, prim&proper young miss of the affluent Hyuuga clan, Hinata & the scandalously rakish Uzumaki Earl, Naruto must team up. And to succeed, they must put up an ACT to catch a killer amidst a sea of so-called "FRIENDS"!
1. The Recital

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**A Naruto Fan Fiction**

"**The Lady and the Tramp"**

**By **_Bloody Priestess_

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Summary: Set in the heart of Victorian London, the sheltered, prim and proper young miss of the affluent Hyuuga clan, _Hinata_ and the scandalously rakish Earl of Wolfeton, _Naruto_ Uzumaki must team up and to succeed, they must put up an _act_ to catch a killer amidst a sea of so-called 'friends'.

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Disclaimer: The author does not own Naruto and any of it related commodities and etc...

Any inaccuracies are the authors own. Be informed that most inaccuracies or "mistakes", if you will, is done for the flow of this fanfics story—its plot, setting and etc. I'll spoil one 'inaccuracy'—the character's names will have an added 'middle' or 'second' English name, in an attempt to assimilate them into the _setting_—England, 18th century. (random example: Masato _Damien _Akiyama)

Evidently, the author will only be using the original characters' likeness and characteristics/abilities (minus their ninjistu capabilities, of course). Hehe!

Be warned that this is VERY **AU**-ish!

Okay, here we go—

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**Chapter One**: The Recital

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They say, _music soothes the savage beast_. But on this musical recital, music unleashed the beast instead of subduing it.

And unleashed it was.

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_Confidence, Hinata, confidence. _She stressed silently, trying her utmost best to maintain a neutral veneer. Butter yellow and honey-gold silk skirts fetchingly pooled around her feet as she seated before herself before the pianoforte. The instrument was in the center of one of the mansion's drawing room that held refreshments and had access to the grand ballroom. With a shy sort of grace, she extended her hands to the keys—

_This is simply like your rehearsal sessions…_ She told herself… _Umm, without the crowd though… and never in my wildest imagination cast my "audience" with Neji's most important acquaintances and business associates!_ She felt a cold side run down her spine.

In her pristine white elbow-length gloves her hands grew clammy, her heart pounded hard against her ribcage as if she just completed a marathon. But then, the stern words of her governess and chaperone, Miss Yuhi taught her penetrated her worry-ridden mind.

_"It is _im_proper for a young lady to show unnecessary emotions."_

And like clockwork, Hinata straightened her spine and lowered her lashes, casting a shadow over her pale blue-hued eyes—the Hyuuga family's natural and family-shared heirloom.

It was the only heirloom she was to have (her dowry and set inheritance aside), now that _he_ controls everything her deceased parents left in the realm of the living.

In this time and age, it was unheard of in society to have a mere woman handle the estates of her family, even though she was the _direct _descendant of the original proprietor of the estate. She was NOT to handle the any of her father's estates. So, in consequence, the estate along with the money all goes to the control of the closest male relative—in this case, to her cousin—Neji Gallagher Hyuuga.

For a matter of fact, all these people were all gathered here tonight in this ball to formally welcome the estates' _new _landlord. And _she_ was here to demonstrate her positive reception to the turn of events.

_This was most unfair_, Hinata thought. She was every bit capable of running her family estates as he cousin was. _At the very least, the Hyuuga family's solicitors could have considered her as a candidate for the property ownership and management. _After all, this spherical object held up by her neck was not some empty shell like what men and the rest of the _Ton_ deemed all women have. _Most, most unfair_!

**DUM**!

Incensed, she pounded her hands down to the keys and created an incensed, discordant noise that accurately reflected her mood.

Several pairs of eyes shot up to her. And Hinata felt her cheeks burn. She tried to avoid their stares but it was too late! She met the most damning of them all—her cousin's disapproving gaze.

_Oh, those pale, pale lavender-blue eyes of his_! Oh how they unnerved her to her wit's limits… as always. They were like her beloved, deceased parents… like her Hyuuga grandparents and all the Hyuugas that came before her. Oh how she feared to cause any disapproval from them. And there Neji was, doing the very thing she dreaded.

Things were expected of her for she was a Hyuuga. It was her responsibility to uphold the honor the name and the family.

_Calm down_. Hina repeated like a prayer in face of Death. _Breathe_.

Turning to a task to divert her thoughts, she fixed her hands over the ivory and ebony keys of the pianoforte. And lightly, began playing a melodic tune. At that prompt, Hina's mind instantly fill with mind the blissful, serene and secure memories of her childhood.

She thought of the time when her father was simply her father. She thought of the time when he was not so critical, demanding and dismissive of her. Focusing on the happy moments—her carefree and jovial mood mirror this impromptu concerto. The rhythm and notes played were quite simple with light, mellow, and clear peals like that of a crisp, cheery spring day. Somehow piece met the intention which was to set the ambiance of harmony as the guests and host mingle about, acquainting and reacquainting with friends and strangers in the room…

This was what she has been schooled all her life to do, Hina realized with a jolt. She _ought_ to be proud. Here she had a pleasing piece to flaunt and if unneeded, easy discarded. But she was… _not_.

Her dark brows met. A lie, she thought. Thus, allowing herself this lone moment of honesty. This, musical piece, with all its light, mellow and cheery intent… Cheery? _Ha_. Hinata wanted to crash her fingers on the ivory keys once again and scream at the top of her lungs: _Oh circumstance! You made me lie! I can see the fact as clear as day… That from this point on—I have to pretend… WHY?_

Her livid hands stopped midway in their collision-course descent to the keys. _That's quite enough._ She scolded herself,_ Doing such will not do you any merit doing that_ here_. Do what you wish when you're alone_…

Chastised, her finger tips landed gently unto the keys and resumed its merry little tune.

…But she could not! She _would_ not! She WILL not allow her cousin to wield that power to put her to such unrest. He had everything else—she will NOT simply hand such leverage over her. With that thought, her chin angled stubbornly. She'll show him! She'll revolt if the need be!

Hinata paused and thought of her Hyuuga ancestors, whose forbidding portraits hung on the walls in this austere mansion's library… and what must they think of her if she… She was not raised to be so insufferable…

_Very well_, she compromised, _a little! I'll rebel… a little_. _In small doses, just enough to keep me sane and not so gullible_… Hinata's fingers traversed the length of the keys… The light, almost whimsical tunes were suddenly gone… each new press produced a deep and hollow chord and soon followed after by another similar deep, hollow chord. She'll begin her campaign… _Yes, starting with this farce of a musical piece_!

Her fingers quickly flitted across and drummed them deeply yet skillfully without compromising the sturdy, thrillingly ardent melody… Hina listened to the sound she produced. It seemed to her that with each note, brought her a little closer to whatever it was she was looking for… _A place_, seemed almost accurate… _That is right_… A place.

_Somewhere… away… from… this… lie_. Her fingers crashed down to the keys, _beautifully _this time…

For it is believed that music is at its most beautiful when the heart guides.

And Hinata Isabelle Hyuuga played on… and on… and on.

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He was on the prowl, drawn to the epicenter of the hauntingly familiar and resounding tunes of the pianoforte. Cradling his drink on one hand and the other shoved deep into his trousers, he approached the amassed crowd in the far side of the refreshment room.

His eyes flickered over the heads of the onlookers to the dark-haired young lady before the instrument. He could keenly sense her frustration as it poured out in the rapidly shifting sharp notes. He could sense a suppressed voice screaming of its existence in every deep and resonant note.

And those bright blue eyes of his darken becomingly as they held the sight of a glint of defiance in the lady piano player's pale lavender-blue eyes. They looked quite murderous. He smiled at the latter observation. It was not everyday one gets to witness such honesty from a woman.

The young lady played on… She was oblivious to _he_, who Society called the "Wolf Demon" was watching her (like the creature he was named after) does to his next meal. But the pale-eyed girl saw nothing beyond but the piano before her…

She was _so _blissfully unaware.

And to some extent, he was glad. Yes, it's quite presumptuous of him to think that she wrote that piece just _for _him. He never met, or seen her before. And so, he ceased his illogical musings but _she_… continued to play with brusque precision. He listened... and what he heard rendered him to amused astonishment.

The first movement reminded him of the happy-go-lucky streak that _was_ him—light, seamless and carefree. And _now_ this… this, almost haunting and daunting second movement, epitomized his current gloom-and-doom disposition and tedious charade he lives his life for…

And the haunting melody seared into his being… He closed his eyes, allowing the music to wash over him. With each chord she struck, it told of what it was like to be him…

Uzumaki wondered what the next—uh, if the piece had a thir—

Abruptly, the playing stopped in mid-note. A blonde eyebrow rose at the tall, dark haired male that leaned down and whispered something into her ear, making the pianist's dark head shot upward to the man's face. Naruto watched the girl nod submissively, rise from the pianoforte before sinking in a deep curtsy at her politely applauding audience.

The very moment she left the proximity of the piano, her presence was replaced by a gorgeous blonde beauty and her sparkling, haughty gray eyes in a dramatic black gown with narrow sleeves, trimmed with soft lilac and stern purple lace with a matching small little cap—a sign of her mourning.

As most masculine eyes remained glue on the _new_ performer, (some where even whispering gossips of deceit, disloyalty which had lead to the mysterious death of the current piano performer, Ino Yamanaka's older brother, Taka a few months ago…) Naruto's eyes never left the dark-haired girl. He was still drawn to the chastised dark haired pianist… "Who are you?"

Uzumaki's tutor's heard that and turned to him. "That," Kakashi Valentin Hatake began, grinning from ear to ear, "I reckon, is our host's cousin… Hinata, I believe is her name."

He processed the information shared by the man who tutored him back when he was in knee-breeches, and now was his man-of-affairs. Uzumaki brought the glass to his mouth, eying the Hyuuga heiress's retreating figure. "Hinata." Naruto repeated softly. _Hmmm…_

He sensed the amused look Hatake was giving him. Naruto turned and muttered insolently, "I don't believe I asked you, man." _Damn, what's with this man? Does he think me to be a simpleton? Yes, it is true that I am new to society—given, that I've just come to my title... But damnation! I know whose party this is, for heaven's sake!_

The earl detected the probing look from Kakashi's infamous one eye—his tutor's _un_patched eye… and continued in the most blasé tone he could execute. "She plays well." He said smoothly, stuffing a hand deeper into his snug breeches pockets while the other brought his drink to his mouth for another sip of the fiery liquid.

Kakashi, all the more amused, sneered at that. He was not buying Uzumaki's blasé tone… _He's interested_, he thought. "Well, this sure is a first! Never have you been interested in any of the prim and proper, accomplished young ladies we find in social gatherings like this."

"What, pray tell is wrong with…" A crisp female voice rejoined from behind the gentleman and the earl, "...an accomplished girl? After all, isn't what gentlemen such as _yourselves_ specifically sought to find in balls such as these?" An exquisite woman of about two and thirty stepped forward and continued. "The very sort of female person, this society strictly demands as it attempts to fashion with her many rules and severe chastisement at the smallest of offense?"

"Ah," Kakashi bowed, (_And _grinning, Naruto noticed). "Miss Kurenai." The eye-patched man greeted her.

"Mr. Hatake." She acknowledged with inclination of her corkscrew-curled, dark brown head. Her posture elegantly bent in her deep curtsy, but there an understated mocking quality to it.

Kakashi Hatake's grin did not falter, _no, not for bit_, despite the scathing quality of her dark brown eyes. "I mean no offense, Miss Yuhi, surely you know that, for it is NOT _I_ who implied such things about your charge." He shrugged slightly, tossing a short yet meaningful eye at the young, new earl.

Naruto wanted to hit his former tutor but remained an immovable figure under the measuring glance of the gorgeous, lady's chaperone.

Just when the young blond was starting to get uncomfortable under the strain, Kakashi finally had the civility to begin the introductions. "Oh yes, before I completely forget my manners… (The woman snorted softly at what Hatake said.) This is Miss Kurenai Ivette-May Yuhi, professional lady's companion and chaperone. And this, dear lady, is the Earl of Wolfeton, Naruto Devon Uzumaki."

It is a peculiar predicament to be assessed by one's employee, Naruto thought. He hired Miss Yuhi to be his "step" sister's chaperone. This was the first time he had been personally introduced to Miss Yuhi. He was able to hire her through the recommendation of Kakashi and his other London solicitors, while he was still overseas— attending to buying out the rest of his commission in HRM's warship Vesper, so that he can finally take his place in Society as was his responsibility.

"I would say it is an honor, your lordship," Said she, though displaying every gesture of geniality, her speech retained its icy edge, "For it is a reality that the esteemed matronly mothers and chaperons of a great many young ladies in this room aspire to have to have the same privilege as I have now."

_Would_? Naruto laughed.

And she obviously grasped _why_ he did so; and _Hmf_-ed, as those with pride (who could empathize) would expect. It was her intention to cut the young earl with biting, carefully worded politeness but apparently, Wolfeton found it amusing instead of impertinence!

And so Naruto said, "Surely, ma'am, I don't mean to think that I have anything against your gender—you, or your charge with what I've implied or not. I mean nothing. Being a lady and all, you should understand men say odd things in the cigar room."

"Indeed…" _Men_! _And their excuses_! Her critical eye was on the blond before settling on Kakashi. She looked as if she was measuring the young blonde man's worth. Her eyes missed nothing... He was dressed to the nines in a handsomely, not to mention, _expensively _tailor formal evening wear done in a rich dark blue. "Well." She began, her pitch denoting finality of her own conclusions about the _new_, young Earl of Wolfeton. "I see, you have taught him _everything_ YOU know, Mr. Hatake." Brusquely, she curtseyed with finality. "Good evening, Mr. Hatake. Good evening, my lord."

Kakashi brought his fingers to his brow in mock salute. For he alone understood the obscure meaning in her "polite" words. As for Naruto, the young earl bowed. When Kurenai was out of sight, the tutor good-humouredly slapped his tutee's back and gripped the younger man's shoulder in a playful clasp. "Whatever plans you have for _any_ of Miss Kurenai's charges… Forget it, kid."

Naruto shrugged the manly grip off his broad shoulders. He said, "Not in this lifetime, Kakashi," and calmly stalked off and disappeared in the crowd.

The male with an eye patch over his left eye, watched his student and chuckled, after quickly draining his glass of port one gulp. "You're wrong, my dear Kurenai… Naruto has yet to learn… the admission of defeat."

_Like _I_ have… with _you.

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End of **Chapter One**

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Author's Notes: Hello there! It's so nice to have you here and reading this… This is my attempt in writing historical fiction. I have a special 'game face' for this… _. Kidding aside, you may well observe a special "wording" (old-timey talk) all through out this fic. There is method to my madness, I assure you. **:3**

The pilot chapter is somewhat meant to test the reception of the genre (historical romance/mystery) with this Manga/Anime show. Tell me how do you find the story so far?

This is just the beginning… I assure you, things will get more interesting and complex as the story progresses.

Here's a tip (or two) in reading this: Watch out for analogies, parallelisms, paradoxes, ironies and occasional lecture about **propriety **versus what is the "**heart set on doing**" that are stitched here and there.

Ya'll know… I'd really like to hear from you guys… your thoughts, your views, your suggestions… please keep it constructive! **;)**

Any hoot, thank you ever so much! And I hope to hear from **you** _real_ soon! Review, review, _review_! _Ciao_. Ü

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	2. Beyond What Meets The Eye

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**A Naruto Fan Fiction**

"**The Lady and the Tramp"**

**By **_Bloody Priestess_

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Summary: Set in the heart of Victorian London, the sheltered, prim and proper young miss of the affluent Hyuuga clan, _Hinata_ and the scandalously rakish Earl of Wolfeton, _Naruto_ Uzumaki must team up and to succeed, they must put up an _act_ to catch a killer amidst a sea of so-called 'friends'.

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**Chapter Two**: Beyond What Meets The Eye

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"People only see... what they are _prepared_ to see."

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Mayhap it was the color of her gown that drew his eyes to the far corner of the Hyuuga family's London Mansion's grand ballroom where she stood beside the same young man that recalled her from the pianoforte.

The Earl of Wolfeton found Miss Hinata Hyuuga with her arm linked most appropriately around her cousin and guardian's arm as he paraded her around the room's confines mingling with _his_ guests. In the eyes of the _Ton_, it cannot be denied that she had class and breeding. It was apparent in her manners; her posture remained straight without that distinctive, studied air. There was something pleasing the manner she carried herself—

_However, there was something else in the heiress' air that doesn't seem to fit the picturesque categorization… Something's amiss…_

Naruto paced the outer circle of doting guests thronged collectively around the cousins. Trying to get a better look at the heiress that seemed to be in the every gentlemen's (and fortune hunters') list of prospective spouse, most especially at White's, the _gentlemen's club_ he recently had joined. The cluster parted slightly, and for a moment or two she looked his way.

She _looked_... but didn't really _see_ him. It was one of the many talents he acquired as an officer in her majesty's navy. To see but be unseen. And thus, he did not considered himself snubbed — Besides, he could see that she was preoccupied with better things than to notice _him_, and that would be—

_Ah, yes. There it is again_, The Earl of Wolfeton noted, amused. _A hint of broken yet quietly fighting spirit_. A kind soul once told him... _"Sometimes, God, breaks our spirit to save our souls..."_ A lifetime ago.

He did not have privilege to brood over any further as familiar emerald green-eyes caught and held his attention.

_Sakura_.

As always, Miss Sakura Annalen Haruno was a spectacular sight. A vision of a ethereal-looking young woman of nineteen years with her long, coral-pink — as her namesake— hair were caught in a half chignon and the rest left to elegantly cascade beneath a glittering white-gold circlet. Her dark green eyes rich in color — mayhap — from the dancing, dressed in a pristine white and pale pink evening dress with a dangerously low, downward-sloping neckline with large puffy sleeves over most of her upper arm, exposing her shoulders and pale pink gloves reaching only up to her wrists.

But Naruto was expressionless as the Sakura approached him in a heart wrenching, becoming sight of swirling of bell-shaped white and pale pink skirts and petticoats. It was an expression (or lack of) he had cultivated to perfection after she had rejected his youngish ardor.

With her lips set in a soft smile, she dipped elegantly before him. Naruto managed a laconically formal bow in return to the call to ceremony she executed before him.

"Good evening, my lord." She greeted in a delicate, benevolent tone… and _that_ sent warning bells to sound in his head.

Long ago, he learned that Sakura only used that tone when she wanted something from him—or _any _male for that matter.

"Good evening, Miss _Haruno_." He said in between gritted teeth, almost reluctant to inquire: "What is the matter?"

Before she could answer him— few feet behind them, the orchestra began the first stirrings of the waltz. The other guests fluttered about to claim their partners, the flurry of darting about rallied the step-siblings to the middle of the dance floor along with them...

To avoid getting trampled upon, the Earl of Wolfeton and Miss Haruno sidestepped and sidestepped. Soon, the pair looked oddly out of place just _standing_ in the midst all the dancing couples.

The usual sparkle in Sakura's stunningly green eyes were illusory as she smiled sheepishly up to him at their predicament.

Such awkwardness had stemmed from the moment Naruto returned to her — not a persistent rejected-suitor but as a blasé 'adoptive' brother. Immediately sensing her unease, Naruto sighed and adhered to the instilled politesse he was taught from the cradle, he gallantly held out a hand to her. "May I have this waltz, _sister_?"

She nodded her coral-pink head, catching sheen cast by the brightly lit chandeliers that illuminated the dance floor.

_Fate,_ he admitted deprecatingly,_ was in gracious spirits when they created Sakura. Everything about her simply conspired to make her spectacular beyond compare_.

"Something does not feel right…" Sakura began after taking Naruto's offered hand _casually_, after all before she became his relation in _law_. She has been asked by "better men". She and the rest of the _Ton_ will never forget the dark details that surrounded the once-shunned _Wolf-Demon_.

Naruto Devon Uzumaki was the son of a fine gentleman and his charming wife who moved in Society and enjoyed connections to an exceptional aristocratic family, of which the seventh Earl of Wolfeton was head of. His father was only third in line to the earldom. After all, the elderly earl had two full-grown, healthy sons. But the disputes England had with her neighboring countries and her colonies called the young marquis and the spare marquis to be high-ranking officers the militia, where they died gallantly few months into a campaign in service of the Queen and country.

So, as the laws stipulate, the new heir to the earldom was Naruto's father. Thus, hitching Naruto Uzumaki a notch above his previous position from a mere "Mister" to a most likely _future_ earl. However, this course did not last long for the older Mr. Uzumaki passed away in a fire that consumed their country estate stables only months after the young marquises were committed to the earth.

With this shift of events, the Ton became considerably amiable to the young little nobody they had always shunned. They invited them to trips to their country estates, to posh balls, to coveted soirees, to the best clubs. They invited to have a taste of the best because the _ton_ knew that once he takes his place in society; surely, he would remember them... and their marriable daughters.

It would best not to cross him, Sakura's better sense told her. With a deceptively serene smile fixed on her face, Sakura whispered fretfully; "She should have been here some time after eleven. Certainly, you are aware how she desires to be fashionable and fashionably late— that is the reason I did not seek you out _much _sooner. But, it is now a quarter past one… I cannot help but worry about Marisa, my lord."

"If she's compromised," The Earl of Wolfeton was infuriatingly brusque, absolutely nothing similar to the elegant, attentive manner he ushered her from the group. "There's nothing we can do but deny any affiliation with her person and whatever she is caught doing."

"Naruto!" She chided him; in the same manner one would admonish a misbehaving little brother.

The indifference and all other tightly-reined sentiment left every fiber in his body as his vividly blue eyes narrowed. He will never get used to the fact that he girl he always admired (and close to a fierce emotion that could have passed for as _"love"_) was now his stepsister after his father's second wife adopted the tragically orphaned Sakura Haruno, the last season's toasted, reigning belle… Their relations were _only_ disclosed on Reiko Kanaka-Uzumaki's will-reading five months ago.

Whenever his "sister" scolded him, his face never fails to redden— which was absolute insanity! He's of mature age and advantageous frame of mind—he was no hussy, no baby... He's a man of twenty-eight years for St. Peter's sake! He was her senior by nine years, God take it, and practically an 'old man' in experience after everything he had been through.

His logic told him so— But, in this case, logic is nothing against the sharp pangs caused by plain old reality. He was reminded that some how, some way still cared of her opinion of him. _Damn this_.

Naruto disclosed naught of his little reverie as he said irately as his clenched teeth would allow, "Miss Marisa Asamito owes _this_ family a fortune. Pray remember that, Miss Haruno. She's fortunate to be able to keep her head high in Society in her _true_ destitute and 'ruined state' as she parades a _non-existent_ French count uncle as her rich provider as a front for… this family."

"She had no choice! YOU did not offer _that_ many options." Sakura retorted fervently while credibly maintaining her air poised and her face calm.

A cold, murderous feeling crept over his heart. It was the very heart Society hardened and dimmed with dreadful and unfair gossip and ill-concealed shunning all his life... _UNTIL_ he inherited a distant elderly uncle's earldom.

It was women like her. Uzumaki thought, the very type of women who hid fraudulence behind a sweet smile just to set the atmosphere for attraction that made his blood run cold with... Loathing burned behind those blue, blue eyes of his.

He often asked himself, why he fell for that _before_… Damnation! He was such a naïve fool. He fell in love. Naruto forced his shoulders to relax, but his mind was attentive as ever. He _**was**_ a naive young fool, he decided. _No more. No more!_

_NO, it could not be._ And women, the very sort he met in balls, soirees and the circles he run in such as these, have such cruel, manipulative souls. A quick flash of a _shy smile paired with the palest lavender blue eyes_ he'd ever seen entered his mind's eye, causing Naruto to pause significantly.

"_Not_ all." The Earl of Wolfeton amended with a reluctant smile at the thought of Hin—

"Naruto?" Sakura pouted most adorably; making him cringe slightly. _How many times had he played a fool to _that _in the past?_ "Are you listening? I dare say, _sir_! You deafen yourself whenever I open my mouth to speak."

"Never on _purpose_, my dear Sakura," He replied without feeling, his eyes shifting to and fro the guests— for a bright titan head belonging to the tardy Marisa Asamito. "If you must know, I was doing multiple tasks at the moment… a common trait amid _men_. Since," His imperious tone made her brows knit in annoyance and guard of every female sentiment at the sudden, apparent surge of testosterone. "You're living with _one_. And, all that you seem to do—given all these pretty dresses and frou-frou manners and guises to attract a suitable man who to provide you with more permanent, oh, shall we say, _marital_ arrangements… You better get used to it without more ado."

An elderly couple dancing beside the step-siblings were gawking at them—notably, eying Sakura with sympathy. Realizing that they overheard the harsh statement, Sakura graciously bowed her head in acquiesce to his words, and her eyes were even lowered to complete a serene, succumbing "humbled" effect. With a grace and graciousness she was well-known for, she allowed him to sweep her effortlessly across the dance floor.

Naruto was _not_ fooled with that little act. Living with her (plus, her chaperone of course) taught him to discern how. He felt those green-orbs burn with ire, shame... and _anger? _But he could not tell for certain, for she spoke ever so pleasantly.

"Thank you for that very candid enlightenment, my lord. You are so wonderfully outspoken. A forthright advice and I shall take it to heart. Rest assured, they have not fallen on deaf ears."

A blonde eyebrow rose at the way she presented herself before the couple dancing beside them… The very elderly couple would later report this event to very eager ears what the _Paragon_ bravely and admirably faced.

He did not appreciate the way she used his words to make her seem the better listener, the accommodating one, and ultimately, the better person for she did not retort in anger…like he did. But most of all, the manner she managed to twist his own words against him.

_It was all too familiar... this feeling of_...

_Ah, yes_… Naruto drawled contemptibly, eyes narrowing menacingly at the beautiful woman in his arms.

Sakura was an example of a woman… he could learn to _dislike_. But since she was… well, _family_, then Naruto shrugged and allowed the strings of the call of propriety to pave his way out of this tedious small-talk. "Please, do not mention it…" And he twirled her around to the final stirrings of the waltz.

_... ever again. Or heaven help you, woman_. And he finished with a strange light in his eyes.

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End of **Chapter Two**

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Author's Notes: I liiiiiiiiive! Yep, still here… very late but still here despite the long respite. See, this is what happens why one reads too much historical romance novels—you somewhat begin to talk and write like Jane Austen and the like… hey, hey! I don't mean that I write _as well_ as the infamous Miss Austen (_hello_! She's far beyond what I'll ever be as writer… that's why she's my constant muse! "We always wish for something that is out of reach", won't you agree?)

Um, I think it would be best to tell you that I am NOT for the Naruto-Sakura ship. The pair is _cute _and all but—_personally_, I much prefer Naruto-Hinata; I simply love the idea of opposites attract!

**Clarifications**

_**1)**_ I'd like to take this opportunity to state for the record that Hina-chan has _long_, dark hair—yes! The way she looks in _Shippuden_, if I'm not mistaken.

_**2)**_ You may have noticed that Sakura is still addressed as "Miss Haruno" even though she is already adopted by Naruto's dad and stepmom (and so she's supposed to be called, "Miss Uzumaki") but I opted to retain her original name because she's already largely known as "Miss Haruno" in Society and I thought that if I change her surname that may lead to **more** confusion.

_**3) **_Reiko Kanaka-Uzumaki, the second wife of Naruto's father, another thing I took the liberty to add/change.

_**4)**_ Marisa Asamito and Taka Yamanaka, Ino's older brother are OC's (original characters).

For any more clarifications, just leave me note, a review... whatever, just get connected and I'll more than happy to clarify and the like...do remember to leave your contact details (email address will do), so that I can get back to you.

I am very moved that you're still there waiting ever so patiently for this chapter by activating the ALERT (and the like) links. Thank you! But you know WHAT? I'd love you if you drop a _**REVIEW**_, _instead_ and tell me what you think! I assure you, I don't bite… unless you're made out of _Hershey's Milk Chocolate with Almonds_!

If you have anything to say, or ask don't hesitate to write me. : )

My utmost thank you's again! Until then, everyone! Ü

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	3. Object Of Curiosity

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**A Naruto Fan Fiction**

"**The Lady and the Tramp"**

**By **_Bloody Priestess_

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Summary: Set in the heart of Victorian London, the sheltered, prim and proper young miss of the affluent Hyuuga clan, _Hinata_ and the scandalously rakish Earl of Wolfeton, _Naruto_ Uzumaki must team up and to succeed, they must put up an _act_ to catch a killer amidst a sea of so-called 'friends'.

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**Chapter Three**: Object Of Curiosity

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I am quite certain of the fact that you are familiar with unhappy end of the curious cat.

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Hinata tried her hardest not to blush. She lifted her chin at the thought that she WOULD allow herself to imagine what those two figures—a man and woman—were doing to one another while locked in _that_ intimate embrace.

She had decided to return the music sheets Lady Ino borrowed. It was an excuse, on Hinata's part, to escape the boring monotonity of the polite yet trivial subjects that were only allowed to be discussed by and to debutantes such as herself.

The man had his back to the Hyuuga Heiress. His hair looked pitch-black in the shadows where the empty boudoir room's light did not penetrate. And the woman, Hinata recognized to be Marisa Asamito, was pinned between the oak-paneled walls and the man's body. She looked like she was in pain… and pleasure.

_Well_, Hinata raised her person a tad bit taller in an unconscious gesture of defiance. After all, she was _not_ as naïve as everyone suppose her to be—as a young girl of eight, she visited a country estate of her family's and had her fill in all things animal domestication and reproduction. She had inadvertently witnessed how the family's thoroughbred horses were sired. Therefore, she had at least a basic idea of what was taking place before her. The musical sheets (that she was on her way to return to the music room) in her arms were involuntarily clutched closer to her bosom.

_But... Why _pleasure_? _

Bolstered with curiosity at what something well-sheltered ladies like herself should (appropriately) have 'fits of vapor over'.

A silly _over_reaction, Hina thought judiciously. _Shock_, would have been a more sufficient word for it. She could not get herself to turn away, or be shocked... And so, she leaned forward from her hiding place by the doorway...

Hinata did not know she was blushing and if she could only see in the mirror—what a becoming shade of red it was!

The man had his head bent over Marisa's already-exposed neck, as he deftly undid her emerald-green bodice. As the shimmering material fell away, he covered the exposed bosom with his impatient hands, before his mouth hungrily came up back to her face. He roughly seized Marisa's wrists and crossed them, high above head. At that, she exhaled in a low, throaty breath. The titan-haired young woman had only eyes for the man she was with… And as consequence, Marisa could not see what was unfolding before _Hinata_'s eyes...

As the room was starting to become quite warm, pale blue eyes witnessed a sinister-looking blade being extracted from the beneath the man's cloak. She would never forget how it gleamed before it embedded itself down to the hilt on Marisa's smooth white neck.

Tremors ran down Hinata's spine… The vicious man still had his lips over hers—keeping Marisa Asamito from calling out for help...

Hina cupped a gloved hand over mouth and her scream died with that swift motion.

_Murder_!

Blood continued to seep out of the stab wound on Marisa's pale neck. The contrast of her lovely pale white skin and red, red, _red _blood was sickening. Marisa's light brown eyes were wide with surprise. They fell briefly on Hina's face before finally closing forever. The man allowed the bleeding woman to sink soundlessly down to the wooden floor.

She just witnessed a murder. _Murder, murder, murder_... Hinata repeated, as though she wanted the fact to sink in her unbelieving mind. She was no longer safe here in the house she grew up in... She had to get out of here! And with that, she pivoted, her voluminous butter yellow and honey-gold skirts trailing behind her like a lighthouse's beacon in a thick fog...

Her forgotten musical sheets fluttered to the polished mahogany floor of the connecting room's doorway. Hinata did not see a sheet flutter to tap the shadowed man on the heel of his well polished Hessians.

Hina was well way along the corridor when her pace quicken at the sound of footsteps behind her. She knew for a fact that she was being followed. She has to be… this feeling of paranoia can NOT be born out of nothing! She just _has_ to be… But the Hyuuga heiress dare not look back to the scene…

Flattening herself against the paneled wall upon turning around its corner, she wildly eyed a delicate, porcelain Chinese vase, beautiful in all its silent and isolated beauty, just sitting there in its skillfully carved mahogany pedestal…

Hinata almost maniacally laughed aloud. She was clearly exhibiting symptoms that could send her to Bedlam as she associated the darn vase to herself.

Here she was, running for dear life and her mind go around and likens her person to:

…_a delicate, porcelain Chinese vase_— refined, frail and ornamental.

…_beautiful in all its silent and isolated beauty_— silent and isolated.

Yes… all that terribly sounds a great deal like her.

…_just sitting there_… sitting—immobile, idle… _in its skillfully carved mahogany pedestal_… displayed from the top of the best there is…

Yes… that _was_ her. The stupid vase.

Her pursuer footsteps grew louder… She snatch the vase and held it tightly between her trembling hands. Hinata could not care less if she looked like a thief in her own home as she held on that vase!

Slowly, Hinata inched closer to the corner, pale blue eyes vigilant for any sign of shadows coming into view on the well-polished marble floor… She'd simply crash the object unto the head of the next per—

Strong arms circled her waist from behind. They compressed her arms down and firmly to her body, rendering her arms immobile, they were also uncompromisingly dragging her backwards to, only God knows where...

Her long black hair escaped from its elegantly swept-up coiffure. The jewelry embellishment (a _Lilium Longiflorum, _better known as the 'November Lily' of ivory petals, emerald-studded leaves, diamond adornments and gold setting) which was inserted into the heavy dark strands now hang precariously from the twines of hair that managed to somehow cling on to its arrangement.

With the image of Miss Asamito's final moments of life still fresh on her mind, Hinata fought like a wild thing even as her captor pulled her backwards and further into another hallway. The vase fell from her hands and crashed into a million pieces on white marble floor.

The beautiful embellishment was ruined. Gone. Destroyed. An omen.

_Screaming_. No, she how can she possibly be screaming? There was a rather large gloved hand over her mouth, silencing her and dragging her backwards into the drawn, heavy curtains leading to one of the countless second-floor balconies of the Hyuuga Estate.

Wood and glass clinked lightly, with the gush of the cool nights' air told her that her assailant had the room-length paneled-glass doors open…

_This villain is going to throw me off the balcony and no would ever suspect that I have been murdered! _She could envision her unsightly dead body broken and twisted on the beautiful garden below. _It is going to look like an accident_! Hinata thought with a sudden intake of breath but that did nothing to calm her down!

In desperation, she threw her head back and collided with her assaulter's head. For a precious heartbeat, those arms loosened their hold and she took no time snatching her butter yellow and honey-gold hued skirts and sprinting for the mansions interior… but alas!

A fierce grasp seized her elbow and wrench her forcefully back through the curtains, out into the isolation of moonlit terrace and straight into a firm masculine body. Hinata dug her heels and the strange man was forced to drag her towards a shadowed corner of the half-circle shaped balcony.

She head him curse at the sound of voices growing louder as they head their way. She jerked her head, ready to scream for help. But the man, correctly sensing what she was about to do, backed her into the darken corner of the manor. The impact of which knocked the breath out of her and disorientated her thoughts.

They stood still and quiet in the shadows for, only heavens knows how long... But in reality it was, a few prolonged seconds... Gradually, as her nerves settled... Hinata became slowly aware of his body's length along her own, his warm breath on the top of her hair, his very masculine hands on either side of her bare upper arms… Swallowing back her self-consciousness, she willed herself to look up through the fringe of her dark lashes. And with the sight before her, she could not help but admire the way the moonlight cast a halo over his golden-blonde hair.

_No_, Hinata Hyuuga mentally shook her head at that as she squeezed her eyes shut. She must not allow the angelic appearance of this man to fool her. For the man, woman, or child is truly and thoroughly an angel. She was not going to allow these _feelings_ to rule her mind!

_For heaven's sakes_, _cease_! Hina admonish herself as an _odd yet astonishingly delightful_ feeling flow from her abdomen to the rest of her body. She does not even know this man's name, let alone his intentions!

Her pale blue eyes snapped open as warm lips touched hers. There was the answer…

_Like Marisa_… If there was a blade hovered over her, Hina was ready and determined to hold it off—she wasn't going die without a fight! Hina primed her person for anything... except for...

S_uch beautiful eyes_ looking hauntingly back at her.

The tautness of her spine slacked. Her lips soften beneath his.

Bright and vivid blue eyes—blue like the color of a perfect summer sky… like the color of clear, fresh running river water...

Her heart rate tripled, but NOT in fear. Like the sort she felt earlier but of something else... _Something like..._ When the word, she attributed to the feeling gripped her sense-drugged mind, her elbow-length gloved hands unconsciously tighten over the lapels of his dark blue evening jacket. It was a thoughtless and innocent gesture... A gesture one would instinctively perform when endangered of losing ground. She had no _further_ intention whatsoever but that motion brought him forcefully against her, and then...

His open mouth slanted impatiently over hers. His tongue gently yet adamantly wedge her sealed mouth to open for him. The invasion of his mouth made her lower body tighten in anticipation. She never felt anything so incredible.

The delicious wave of the action made Hinata's breath lodged in her throat— Realizing that she had moan aloud, she was extremely mortifed and withdrew for a fraction. But the owner of those vividly blue eyes—looked very _pleased_ by it.

Removing his hands from her wrists, he entwined one on the small patch on her back and the other under her chin, duly and fully upturning her face to his. And ever so slowly, he grazed his hand from the crook of her neck and shoulders and back up again... He was kissing her heartily now... And she allowed it!

_For heaven's sakes_!

His kiss deepened when she thought it couldn't deepen anymore. Hina brought her arms around his neck as her knees began to loose feeling and head began to spin wildly. This onslaught on her senses is... nothing like anythi—

"Is someone out there?" A voice asked from the threshold of the balcony.

Hinata pulled back and away from his embrace, her breathing uneven.

The man straightened slowly, his shining feral eyes to her were the only thing visible in darkness. "Do you trust me?" He asked, holding out his gloved hand to her.

Every fiber in her being screamed out a bounty of warnings... "_You don't know this man_!"... R_emember what he did? He is NO gentleman! And what does Miss Yuhi_ say _about such persons_?"... "_Don't let those good looks impair your _other_ senses_!" "_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_!"

Hinata could not understand it... but a quiet, yet determined voice drowned out all the other screaming protests. She did not realize that she trustingly gave him her hand.

He smiled. "Hang on."

Entranced with that smile, it did not immediately register the swift manner he swept her off her feet (literally)! And with his right hand on her left arm, he lower her down the side of the balconies railing. And then, with his grip still on hers, he left her hanging by the thick ivy that crept on the side of the mansion's stone walls.

_Breathe_! She commands herself. Instinct made her lodge a slippered foot into a firm ivy branch to keep from dangling precariously.

When the gravity of the situation finally sink in... Hinata wanted to scream a clear, sharp soprano note in annoyance! But thought twice when she heard—

"Why, Lord Wolfeton!" A female voice greeted amiably, but it sounded FAR from surprised to find him where he was.

_Wolfeton?_ That does not seem correct... For the life of her, the only "Wolfeton" she could recall from her thorough study of _Debrett"s Peerage_ was a swively old man of eighty-four. Hinata's brows traveled higher and higher up her forehead...

_Oh merciful heavens_, she recalled that the seventh Earl of Wolfeton, _Tsushi Toumori_ passed away some months ago... and his heir was a grand-nephew of some sorts...

Her iron-like grip on his faltered for a moment as it dawned on her. This blond, blue eyed young man was the _eighth _Earl of Wolfeton! The infamous, enigmatic and dreade—

Hina's heart caught in her throat as his head turn a centimeter to her direction. It was as if he read and knew the _exact_ content of her thoughts.

It is an absurd notion— But _they_ say, the man could read one's thoughts. The devil's gift.

"Good Evening, Lady Ino. Good Evening, Mademoiselle Du Sable." He said smoothly, giving no hint of a woman handing over the ledge he was holding on to by that hand he hid behind his back.

_Unsettled_, yes she was, but she could not bring herself to fear, which, people say one gets to experience in that order. Her logic told her that, certain (and specific) gossip topic never fails to come up whenever one is in close proximity... Knowing the content of her thoughts was not a supernatural feat, it was some form of _learning._

She should know, she too was a victim of that very look. She had learned to associate people's expression to know their thoughts. Unconsciously, her hand tightened its hold as though she was saying that she understood and she felt him reassuringly grip back.

"I hope that we are not intruding, my lord." Sweetly, an accented female voice said.

Hinata recognized the voice, it belonged to the foreigner— Temari Du Sable (AN: 'du sable' roughly translates to 'of the _sand_' in French)— whose brothers co-owned large mines in Africa and a fleet of ships that sailed from Europe to the Americas.

"No, not at all, Mademoiselle Du Sable. I found the dance hall quite _overcrowded_ and decided to simply step out for a bit of _moonlight_."

Lady Ino Carlyle Yamanaka, daughter of the Earl and Countess of Stratton must have also noticed the bold hint of dismissal of his reply, for she hastily said, "Oh I _see_. Well, you must excuse us once again," But she could not resist adding mischievously, "Lord _Wolf_eton. Good Evening."

Hinata heard ill-concealed hurrying footfalls and not-so soft whispers of: "...that was a regretful course of action, Mademoiselle Du Sable! We should not have followed hi—"

"I was _against_ it. Surely, you recall."

"… but, I dare, dare say! Trust him so goad us in such a manner. Positively thrilling!"

"...did you remark on that tone? I half expected him to pounce on us and tear us into shreds. I finally see the reason behind the hunt quip, 'Be wary of a cornered _animal_'."

In her mind, Hina imagined the girls finally out of sight for Wolfeton had now fully turned to her and assisted her back onto the balcony. With his strong hands under her arms, he lifted her over the marble railing with seemingly no effort at all.

"Well... _now_ we know for ourselves!" Giggled one of the girls.

The Hyuuga heiress watched his expression as the receding conversation took place, her gloved hands tingling at the feel of the firm muscle of his arms. "My lord... They intend no mischief. I am sure of i—"

Naruto Uzumaki, the Earl of Wolfeton's mouth curled to a devil's own twisty smile. "Please, do not trouble yourself with that, miss. Some people are not worth saving face for..."

"'_Some people_'?" she repeated clearly incensed, making her completely forget her the empathy she felt for him. "Pray tell, sir! Are you _well _acquainted with the character of those 'people', you so imply with that marring statement, to merit a valid and _fair_ conclusion? I dare say, you do NOT!"

"I—"

Hinata cut him off, which surprised her more than it did the earl. This was very unlike her, but loved the exhilarating feeling to openly speak her mind. "... are cynical!" She finished for him, stabbing a finger at his chest with every word. "I would forgive for that if the offense was directed at ME... but not when it is directed to _my friends_!"

_The loyalty of this woman_... He inwardly grinned. "In that case, I will not ask for forgiveness... Instead, I shall now collect your appreciation, for I saved your reputatio—"

"'_Appreciation_'? After you practically threw me off the balcony."

"To keep from seeing you with me. In any case, held on to you, did I not?"

She felt her face burn, recalling his capable hand on her arm, further securing her. _No_. Hina angled her chin determinedly, declaring that she was _not_ retracting her other allegation against him.

Wolfeton sighed. He shall deal with _that_ later. "Allow me to be bold and justif—"

"Bold_er_." She corrected. "You were bold_er_."

His gaze slipped from her fierce eyes to her kiss-swollen mouth. Hinata immediately regretted the correction, but refuses to cowardly look away from the audacious gaze.

"Yes. Allow me to be bold_er_ than I already have..." He said with a mischievous light in his eye. She nodded, suddenly not trusting her voice. And the earl continued, "and justify, the gravity of why I had to put you out of sight. No young female person's reputation is safe from the evil, waggling tongues in my company… especially, _alone_ in my company. Reputations once tarnished, are most difficult to clean up. _I_ should know. I am the _Wolf-Demon_, after all."

There was a slight hint bitterness in his offhand, mordant tone that made her look up to him again, clutch his sleeve in an unaware comforting manner... She wanted to reassure him, to say tha—

"!"

The blonde earl and brunette heiress turn to direction of the scream.

"Dear heavens!" Ino Yamanaka's voice exclaims to the voice from somewhere in the manor. Temari—why did you scre —? _OH MY_! Someone help! HELP!"

"Miss Asamito..." Hinata murmured and her face a deathly white.

He moved suddenly. Wolfeton seized her shoulders and gave her a savage shake. "WHAT ABOUT MARISA ASAMITO?" He demanded.

Beneath his fingers, he felt her shiver.

For the first time this evening, she felt sheer terror. "She's dead."

The earl cursed fluently and with great variety which somehow replaced the ill-emotion with ...curiosity. Unknowingly, Wolfeton's er, colorful language calmed her— UNLIKE the frantic running and shouting that passed the balcony where they were in.

"...does it still stand?" He asked.

"I beg your pardon, my lord. _What _still stands?"

"Do you trust me?" He repeated.

Not a shred of hesitation. "Yes." She answered softly.

"Good." With the fluidity and dexterity of a predator he leapt off the balcony's railing and land on the top of the sturdy vines. Thrusting a hand to her, he assisted her over the ledge _this_ time around.

Once she was secure next to him, he began his swift, stealthy descent down the mansion's wall with the help of the same vines that helped her earlier.

In some _other_ circumstance this whole business of climbing down mansion walls under the cover of night and gentle illumination of the moon's light would have been terribly romantic —the very sort that filled some tragic poetry.

"_In some _other _circumstance_." Hina emphasized... "Most certainly _NOT_ this."

On the final distance before they reach the ground, the earl jumped off first and just when he turned, reach up to help her down...

Her foot slipped from a deceptively 'firm' branch and fell as gravity performed its occupation. Her heart lurched in fear as she twisted in mid-air, arms flailing in helplessness. Hinata wanted to close her eyes but came face to face with the blonde's startled up-turned face.

His strapping arms closed around her before they hit the glassy ground, his body cushioning hers from most of the impact as he purposely fell backwards, the latter event emitted a low groan from Wolfeton.

"My lord—a-are you alright?" Hina queried, perching herself on her elbows on his chest.

"How can I NOT be? Especially when angels are falling from the sky!" Hinata felt his hands languorously stray from her waist to her hips as he spoke with his blue, blue eyes gleaming devilishly. "And look where one is _ON_."

Pale lavender blue eyes narrowed to slits at the sprawled, laughing male form _under_ her. She did not see the any humor behind her serious inquisition. She felt very embarrassed at her lack of comprehension at his (naughty) joke—

_Ooooh_! Hina was instantly on her feet. _And the frustration that he's deems me to some foolish little twit, eh?_!

On impulse, she deliberately stomped a foot on his stomach. Seeing him curl up with a wince, she pivoted sharply, thus adding insult to injury by 'slapping' him with her rustling skirts on the turn.

Hinata Hyuuga felt infinitely better as she marched back into the mansion's interior—but her good mood did not last long... for Marisa Asamito's body was being removed from the crime scene, droplets of blood leaving a tell-tale trail of where the violence had began and wherever it _may_ end.

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End of **Chapter Three**

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Author's Notes: Hello, everyone! First of all, I'd like to apologize for any dramatical errors... I haven't got the means to fool-proof read this. You see, our _Microsoft Word Program_ cannot be used (thanks to a virus! T.T) and so I had to write this directly on the Edit/Preview window here. Sorry again... Uh.

Hahaha! How was that for a first meeting? Any BTW, this is the longest chapter to date! Wahaha! Inspiration just kept on flowin'! I do hope this'll last!

Oh, oh, oh! Thank you very much for your kind reviews! I read all of them, you know? I'm sorry of Hinata had a small role in the previous chapter, you see... I wanted to focus more on the relationship Naruto and Sakura have—especially now that they're "siblings"!

**Clarifications:**_** 1)**_ _Tsushi Toumori_, is an O.C. (original character), not to worry, we'll only be mentioning him and the other's in future chapters!

Oh, oh! Can anyone out there guess the symbolism behind the part where Hinata and the (darn) vase? And that joke of Naruto's about 'getting some moonlight'?

And, do remember to log-in and/or leave your e-mail addresses, just in case you want me to personally answer your question(s)! Don't be shy!

Review, okay? Well... Until then, once again!

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	4. Something For Nothing

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**A Naruto Fan Fiction**

"**The Lady and the Tramp"**

**By **_Bloody Priestess_

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Summary: Set in the heart of Victorian London, the sheltered, prim and proper young miss of the affluent Hyuuga clan, _Hinata_ _Hyuuga_ and the scandalously rakish Earl of Wolfeton, _Naruto_ _Uzumaki_ must team up. And to succeed, they must put up an ACT catch a killer amidst a sea of so-called 'friends'...

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**Chapter Four**: Something for Nothing

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People, regardless of how they justify it, always want something in return. For— no person really does anything for _nothing_.

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Amidst the yards upon yards of fabulous, varied, colorful and extremely expensive fabrics draped over every furniture in sight in the tastefully _Parisian-styled _and furnished room, Hinata managed to sit in the middle of the Lady Ino Carlyle Yamanaka, the Stratton's London mansion's drawing room in some resemblance of calm... But compared to the beautiful Sakura Haruno's infinitely serene expression, the Hyuuga Heiress was a dull imitation.

With a hesitation, Hina turns to Sakura who was seated in a dark-blue brocade sofa in front of a beautifully clawed footed marble-top table with her day-dress' skirts arranged around her feet. Even the late morning sunlight that shimmered on her head, completed the serenity of her expression— Yes, she was _nothing _next to Sakura. Hina wondered if she could ever, even in the smallest of measure, be like Miss Haruno.

It was every young miss' wish to be like the "great" Sakura Haruno—_the_ paragon of a well-mannered female person ever since she made her debut a year and a half ago. But alas, Sakura had to withdraw from the public eye because her birth parents died when their vehicle overturned trying to escape footpads chasing their carriage. It was customary, as well as expected to mourn one's departed for a year. This entailed the mourners to remove their person from society until the end of the morning period.

The beloved paragon's dear parent's death was soon after followed by the longest nine months of quiet and gradual impoverishment for the young miss. And Miss Haruno, bore the unfortunate event with great composure and dignity! Even as gossip flew to any ear that would listen of how the once "great Haruno's" only and most profitable country estate, _Gifford_ had to be sold off to pay the solicitors who began calling almost immediately after burial ceremony.

Hinata's mouth curved with disgust on how she was instructed to hear and digest gossip as part of her training in 'polite' conversation. She recalled how 'politely' the majority of Society fervently discussed and sometimes, relished Miss Haruno's bleak condition. Tongues wagged when Sakura had to move to a modest, but respectable cottage on a partly shred of what remained of the magnificent Gifford estate where she continued with her mandated mourning. She set up a household of only three servants — a housekeeper, doubling as a maid and a butler and a footman.

Hina deeply admires Sakura's inventiveness with her modest possessions and dignity with the populace (she must have considered friends). It spoke volumes of Miss Haruno's splendid character.

Back then, the _ton_ feared the worst for the orphaned, impoverished Sakura Haruno.

And then there was the revelation that the recently deceased Reiko Uzumaki—Sakura's godmother and the late Chibara Haruno's best friend— apparently adopted her goddaughter and the process only just been made official. And so, many thanks to the kindness of the Uzumaki family— Sakura was saved, the _ton_ thought happily!

Sakura was noted by all to be quite content with the turn events—she made no complaints. Ever since that time on, she very well taken care of by her guardian—the Earl of Wolfeton, Naruto who only came to his title a mere months prior.

The eighth Earl of Wolfeton had provided for her like an older brother and legal guardian would. He had set her up in the townhouse of her own and provided her with all the requirements and luxuries that she had been accustomed to. He was considerate enough to employ the services of the finest lady's companion, which Sakura sorely needed more than ever with the fact that _he_ was a bachelor and _she_ was an unmarried female. This was especially needed when she stayed in Wolfeton Manor, his family's long-standing manor some five miles north of London.

Despite all the foul repute and gossip surrounding the eighth Earl of Wolfeton— especially in regard to how he personally and ruthless maneuvered imperative events to secure his title and status— Miss Haruno was to be commended, admired and set as an exemplary example for the way she never uttered any slur against the young newly-titled nobleman. She was a lady in the truest and purest sense of the word!

Unfortunately, the majority of Society was _not_ Sakura Haruno, and it was not for a want of trying. A large portion remained fascinated in _The Supposed Scandal_— for as long as there were people willing to tell and retell and people willing to hear and rehear— it is commonplace to have unflattering hubbub every time Uzumaki enters a room.

It was viciously held and circulated, by the _Ton_'s wickedest of gossipmongers, that the current Earl of Wolfeton—the devious, ruthless, arrogant man that he is— 'made things happen' to acquire what he lacked to be thoroughly accepted by the high circles of Society where he was shunned: immense fortune, imposing influence, and an illustrious title.

Here, this young man was— idealistic, optimistic, and confident in his education, manners, opinion, origin, and place in the world. With his first brush with Polite Society and first brush with "love", he learned that he was inadequate.

The most titillating version of what _allegedly_ occurred after old Wolfeton's boys died in battle, was that young Uzumaki coldly arranged to prematurely advance his inheritance. He commissioned low-lives to stage the great stable fire that killed his father while he was onboard the HRM Vesper. Then, he arranged the seventh Earl of Wolfeton to 'quietly' pass away in his sleep with the help of an exotic poison Uzumaki acquired during his travels. All these were merely allegations strengthened with circumstantial evidences. Sometimes, Hinata thought, lies known to everyone has the tendency to develop as the 'truth'.

A parlourmaid dressed in the livery of the _Stratton's_ royal blue and gold came and deposited the gleaming steel trolley with the tea and tea cakes beside Hinata's side of the settee. The maid returned the smile before soundlessly returning to stand near the door beside the Stanton butler, Mr. Willoughby.

Kurenai was assisting young blonde lady select through fabrics for new walking, day dresses and elegant ball gowns she was to have made. Now, that the stunning blonde was now coming out of her year of mourning for her older brother, Taka.

It was very essential to have Miss Yuhi's _other_ charges present. For the economy of time, of course, the proper instructions shall be given out all at once.

"Now, if you please, Miss Hyuuga," Miss Yuhi, her (as well as Ino and Sakura's) lady's companion and chaperone said while holding out a shimmery silver-gray fabric against Ino, "practice 'elegance' whilst you pour the tea."

Pale blue eyes slowly yet audaciously stole up to Miss Kurenai. That was the chaperone's diplomatic way to say that the Hyuuga heiress should begin to serve the tea for the ladies present. They all knew that the maid could have done it for the guests. However, with was proper to have young ladies learn how to aptly pour tea for when they marry and become _mistress _(as in, feminine variation of 'master') of their husband's household it was up to them to pour tea when receiving one's guests and callers.

Understanding that there was indeed good reason behind Miss Yuhi's sternness, Hina turn to passing a tea cup to Sakura with all the determination she could rally. In the corner of her eye, Ino pulled out a flowing water-blue fabric from white box.

Suddenly, Hinata could not breathe... _That color_. Her pale cheeks hued themselves a lovely patch of red on their own accord. It has been _eleven _days since, what Hina privately called "The Incident", but the memory of those clear, water-blue eyes still shone vividly in her mind.

"Heavens!" The blonde gush prettily, not seeing Hinata's similar reaction. "This will go nicely as a ball gown, wouldn't it not, Miss Yuhi? And grandmére's pearls will go nicely for a total _Ocean_ themed look!"

For half a heartbeat, dark green eyes peered through coral-pink fringed lashes with a note of disdain directed at Ino.

The impassiveness that clad the Hyuuga heiress' bearing as she thought about Wolfeton flitted away. The lovely porcelain tea pot quivered in Hinata's hands, nearly spilling its contents on Sakura Haruno's pale mint-green morning dress with dark green ribbon-trimmings and narrow, long sleeves. Hinata was taken aback to see The Paragon so... menacing.

"Oh, that could have been a _great_ mess." Ino remarked half-teasing, earning herself a disapproving glance from Kurenai.

Pale blue eyes blinked hard. '_This is _THE _Sakura Annalen Haruno_! Hinata reminded herself. _The_ paragon is _not_ that sort of lady! It must have been brought upon by the near-experience could have caused,' the brunette rationalized. _'I am__ wrong to even consider Sakura capable of disdain or anything devious for that matter!'_

"You must be _more _careful, Miss Hyuuga." Kurenai said unsmilingly. "Presence of mind is _the_ antidote for all clumsiness."

"Yes, Miss Yuhi." _Presence of mind, lately, has been elusive to me. _Hinata told herself. Sakura smilingly held out her tea cup, _I must have imagined it all_... _Foolish me_. "Do forgive me, Miss Haruno." She said sincerely.

"Please," Sakura said pleasantly to the brunette, "do not trouble yourself with apologies, you did _no_ harm."

"But—"

Sakura knew that this long string of apologies will never end and so she purposely changed the subject, "I'd like to have two lumps of sugar with my tea, please."

Kurenai hid a smile, she knew what Sakura did. Sakura smoothly deflected the younger girl's uneasiness. _Well done, Haruno... as what one would expect from _you.

Hinata, knowing that it was now inappropriate to speak, returned to the task of serving tea. To Ino she amiably asked. "Would you care for some tea, my lady?"

Ino's brilliant smile fell slightly as she turned from her reflection draped in a new peach fabric on the French gold-gilded mirror to Hina. "No, thank you." She said a little too curtly. Kurenai frowned at the tone, justly poking the blonde with a pin; Ino hastily added. "Perhaps in a little while, if it still pleases you, Miss Hyuuga."

Hinata's dark cloud immediately vanished. Her smile was bashful and slow to appear… but it was genuine. "Yes, it will, Lady Ino."

Ino smiled briefly at the brunette heiress and Kurenai nodded with approval.

"Miss Kurenai? Woul—"

"In a while, Miss Hyuuga." Kurenai snappishly cut in.

Sakura paused in the course of her tea stirring with a mildly interested expression. It was evident that she felt sorry for the girl, but she said nothing. _True ladies never speak out of turn_. The coral-pink haired young lady resumed stirring her tea.

Hinata's face fell, bowing her head to partially obscure her tell-tale expression. The Hyuuga Heiress routinely proceeded to pour herself some tea with much dignity she could muster.

The stunning blonde was starting to think that Miss Yuhi show favor for the meek, little debutante. Lady Ino Yamanaka, daughter of the _Earl and Countess of Stratton_ was not completely without feeling. Honestly, she had a heart underneath that cool, slightly haughty exterior and comportment of hers. But, Ino wished their mutual chaperone to show some firmness towards the Hina. Ino was very much delighted.

_The Polite Society was composed of all sorts of people—most of them sadly are garbed with a pleasant exterior but a foul interior... It is imperative for one to be able to learn how to separate the truth from the lies. Ino only wanted Hinata to be prepared and schooled, so that she may not be duped and disillusioned by those nasty characters_.

Kurenai watched her young blonde charge, understanding what that expression meant and smiled privately. The dark brown haired lady's companion was rarely pleased. But somehow, today was an exception. Honestly, it felt wonderful to be blessed with charges who learned what was taught them, held the lesson close to the heart and lived by them.

The lady's companion would never say this aloud... but... _I worry more that what is expected... Saints preserve me._

_..._

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The theatre... It was the best place to _see_ and _not be seen_. But ever since he was made the Earl of Wolfeton after a series of odd coincidence, there has hardly been any time he was out of the _Ton's_ sights.

Wolfeton — what Society called Naruto Uzumaki politely _to his face_ — had a very good view of his 'sister', Ino Carlyle Yamanaka (Lady Ino) and Hinata Isabelle Hyuuga from across the grand space of the _Konoha Opera House_'s domed ceiling as the three young ladies and their ever-present chaperone, Miss Yuhi occupied the Yamanaka's private box.

Only a few minutes into the play—Naruto already knew how it ended. He had read this play. It was that sappy tragedy about young Italian lovers where the young man took poison and the young lady stabbed herself. _Damn Shakespeare_. But deep down inside, he was a fool—quixotic, a romantic at heart. With that testimonial he damned himself as well.

He lowered his opera glasses and turned to the laughing male who just ushered yet another male and his younger brother into the Marquis of Garston's private opera box.

In the corner of his blue _blue_ eyes, he saw the Frenchman Gaara Sebastien Du Sable and his brother, Kankuro Simeon likewise turn to the heavy curtains to see Lee come in with some newcomers. Brock "Rock" Lee, Marquis of Garston made the introductions—the newcomers were Itachi Xavier Uchiha, the Marquis of Villefort and his younger brother, Sasuke Maximilien.

Naruto studied the Uchiha siblings… but it was futile. With a reluctant sigh, he turned shifted his attention to the play on the stage. The blonde earl of Wolfeton did not know what _exactly_ he was looking for.

Pondering some more, it was slowly becoming clear to Wolfeton that he was seeking out a murderer of whom he knew so little about—and his investigations lead him as far as to the Hyuuga Mansion that fateful night two weeks ago. But even then, he had been relying on Marisa's information to bring about the next phase. Now, the girl was cold and gone and so was the villain's trail.

_Two weeks, wasted_! Naruto crushed his play itinerary in annoyance and a muscle at his jaw flexed.

From across the great domed space, a pair of opera glasses wandered off from the stage to the horde of gentlemen in the Marquis of Garston's opera box. It was not an isolated case, for numerous others were doing the very same thing.

Why, the box was crammed with the most eligible bachelors in the country who had come to London for the Season! Any ambitious mama with daughters of marriageable age, commendable fortunes and a long, proud noble ancestry would have delight in and document the occurrence as God's gift—for they were able to see and not be seen. This was such rare sight! Most of the time, the gentlemen would remain in their clubs and politely refuse to attend balls, operas and the like... but not tonight! Unsuspectingly, they were in proud display like horseflesh in a fair.

A fan snapped closed determinedly against an elegantly gloved feminine hand.

Hinata smiled at Sakura, trying to ease the awkward silence. Sakura obligingly let the matter side and smiled back. "Don't you just adore the theater, Miss Hyuuga?"

"Yes, it's quite delightful. Tonight's performance was quite thrilling." Hinata observed.

Sakura smiled, looking absolutely radiant in her gown of pale green with white flounces that made Hina wonder if her person would ever be worth anything. The paragon nodded her acquiescence, seemingly unaware of the young débutante's rather melancholic, thoughts, before directing her opera glasses back to the Shakespearean tragedy unfolding on the stage below.

Hinata did not realize how accurate her observation was, until _much later_ that evening.

...

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The crush of people leaving the theater was... _literally _crushing her. She had lost the trace of a rusty orange, azure-blue, and pale green with white flounces dresses respectively belonging to Miss Yuhi, Lady Ino and Miss Haruno in the multitudes leaving the theatre. Hinata resourcefully plucked her deep violet-accented with lavender skirts trampled on by an idle gentleman talking to an acquaintance.

Sensing the tugging motion on his feet, he said. "I beg your pardon, miss." The gentleman hastily lifted his foot off the hem off her skirts, thus allowing her to move forward.

_They must have thought that I was to leave with Neji. Well, that _was_ the initial arrangement… But Cousin Neji cannot be here._ Hina thought, as she gripped her cousin's short note sending his regrets that he could not come and fetch her. _Business, it said shall detain him for the rest of the evening. _

"Wait!" her mind shouted after them, knowing fully that it was unheard of to be shouting in public. _And if were to leave on my own… Why! Neji would simply be furious! _Craning her neck for a moment, her pale blue eyes settled on the sparkling sapphire hairpiece on a lustrous mane of curling pale-gold ingots of hair a distance ahead of the crowd. _There they are_. Hina noted, identifying Ino's hair and hairpiece.

Realizing that she could reach the trio faster if she cut though the massive pillars lining the sides of the foyer where the idling people were sparse. The Hyuuga heiress turned sharply and made her way more quickly… But not quickly enough, for they three ladies were already walking out into the lamp-lit streets.

An elegant, black lacquered open carriage with the Stratton crest halted before them. One by one, the ladies disappeared into the shadows of the vehicle.

Hinata ran on ahead, convinced that by staying the street lane she was quite safe. She decided to hail the Stratton carriage away from all these departing people, where it would have a better chance of seeing her. With her dark cloak secured about her, rendering her anonymous from the nosy stares as she made her way. Barely through the shadows where the lamplight did not penetrate had she felt a presence…

"What's ye 'urry, little lady?" a voice asked from behind. Hina turned to barely saw a burly man dressed in a shabby overcoat and hat pulled low over his face pounce on her from the darkness. Before she could rebuke, a foul smelling cloth has been overpoweringly brought to her nose and mouth.

Hina reacted instantly. She brought her the back of her hand hard against the man face. As she intended the gem on her ring wounded her assailant thus causing him to slacken his brutish hold and drop the fetid cloth dosed with chloroform. Jerking her face away from his bulky hands she was able to inhale fresh, clean air and let out a sharp, loud cry. "HELP! Someone pl—"

The brute's left cheek was bleeding from the gash she caused. He then, gathered her wrists together in a pitiless grip with one hand and pulled her forward a nondescript closed-carriage that came to a jarring stop before them.

She was intelligent enough to recognize that she was losing the struggle, for her physical strength was nothing compared to his. But she was not going to simply admit defeat. Using her _wits _to overcome her opponent was something she daresay she had in abundance!

Hinata sharply turn her gaze over the man's shoulder as if she recognized someone. Her eyes positively glowed with triumph and relief at the nonexistent person behind him. With the brute distracted, she kicked his shins. Just as Hina wretched her wrists free and started to scurry away, a deafening thunder of a pistol going off sounded from the carriage interior.

The door burst open and a bleeding man fell to the pavement while a second figure loomed at the threshold of the dark vehicle. A man inched out of the open carriage with a smoking pistol in his right gloved hand, his features shadowed by his slightly tilted head and his face further obscured by the upturned collar of his billowing black cloak.

A second pistol was leisurely extracted from the folds of the second man's greatcoat, its gleaming end pointed straight at Hinata. "Cease, woman!"

She stopped in her tracks. Her chest rose and fell as Hinata barely manages to drag air to her lungs.

And the heavyset brute chuckled nastily to her ear. "T'would be best ye cooperate, girly."

The man unhurriedly stepped out of the carriage to the hard pavement, still trailing his gun at the heiress. And then, she saw _blue, blue eyes_ peer through the shadows on the gunman's face to her.

She could have sworn they twinkled with mischief. _As if this was a game rather than a life-or-death situation_! The after effects of foul cloth brought to her were making her slightly a tad bid dizzy and her vision darken a tad bit. That was the inspiration she needed!

Hina brought a gloved hand to her forehead. She closed her eyes, and with poise sank in a feign swoon at the brute's feet. "Ohhhh!"

"You dim-witted fool what have you done to her?" And the second man shouted to the brute as the young woman landed on the cold pavement.

The larger man clearly panicked, raising his arms when the gun pointed to him instead, "I did nuthin', gov'nor. Swear on my blessed wife's bones, I dain't!" Then, comprehension dawned in the brute's bloodshot eyes after his eyes skimmed over the bleeding man. He drew his own pistol and pointed them to the owner of those blue, blue eyes. "Whut 'ave ye dun to the gov'nor, boy?"

From her sprawled position on the pavement, Hina's heart hammered with fear for her rescuer's safety. She knew she was being silly... after all, Mr. Blue, blue eyes seemed very cool and capable under the circumstance... It was the fact that he was _in this _because he came to _her _aid that made her mindful and clearheaded about the dangerous situation they were in. She sought of a way _to help _HIM. On her pose on the ground, she had a good view of the back of the brute's legs. Inspiration struck once again! Hinata lashed her feet together to the back of the heavyset man's knees, causing the much larger man to fall and in the flurry of movement, his pistol accidentally firing into the night...

In an instant, Mr. Blue, Blue Eyes moved from his position by the carriage and bashed the brute with the back of his pistol before the brute could stand, rendering the latter to unconsciousness.

Wolfeton, shoving his second pistol to the band of his trousers, grabbed her shoulders and gave her a hard shake. "Are you hurt, Hinata?"

Hina gazed to the huge, unconscious man on the ground beside her... she tried not to think of the bleeding man called the 'governor'. "I'm fine, my lord." The composure of her tone astonished her. She expected herself to be in a dead faint. However, she felt very alert and fully conscious.

The coachman leaped from the vehicle. Reacting immediately to the perceived danger, Hina pulled the pistol from Wolfeton's waistband, released the weapon's safety lock and fired at the coachman—all in one flowing motion.

Kakashi dropped to the ground as the bullet destroyed a lamp where his head was a heartbeat earlier. "Blast it, girl!"

"She already did, Hatake." Naruto grinned down at her, amused by her speed, daring and aim. Firmly, extracting the smoking firearm from her hands he said to his former tutor and tonight's accomplice.

"Blast you _as well_, Uzumaki." The silver-blond haired man cussed, gripping the brute by his legs and pulling the heavyset man towards the vehicle. "Help me load this monstrosity into the damn carriage, will you? You can make goo-goo eyes with the girl later."

Both men then loaded the bleeding 'governor' after binding their hands and legs together like a couple hogs captured in a hunt.

"What about the 'governor's' wound?" The heiress asked, eying the steady flow of blood on the smaller man stuffed into the vehicle.

Hatake was back on the coachman's seat as Naruto finished binding the doors closed. "You're worrying after that son of a bitch?"

She realized that her compassion was not appreciated by her rescuer for her assailant. She thought of saying something to appease the former... something that was "expected"... But she_ could _not. Hinata _would not_! Purposely, ignoring society's mandate. She said in practical tones verging on sass. "Of course, one would not have him dying before one could investigate him, now would we?"

"You heard that, Hatake?"

Hinata could sense the 'coachman's' quiet laughter underneath that mysterious smile.

The earl grinned, apparently enjoying the edge of venom in her words and the hint of wickedness in the manner her mind works.

Then she added, sarcastically. Clearly stating that her venom was for the _circumstance _of her assailant and NOT for the _person_ per se. "Because that is _all _he's worth. He's _only _good is the information he holds. 'Oh', you're suggesting, 'he does _not _deserve humane treatment... because he's NOT human but a mere well of information!'... Is he not, essentially, a human person? Regardless of the path he has pursued?"

Wolfeton sighed. "And here I was, beginning to enjoy the way your wicked mind works."

"_Wicked_?" Hina repeated incredulously. "Why you hypocritical..." She threw a glance at her attackers and continued, "... heartless..."

A carriage lumbered and turned in the northwestern corner of the lane. It reminded him that they were still on a public street. Wolfeton took out his gold watch and waved in the air to the other end of the lonesome street that was shrouded in the evening mist and shadows cast by the trees that bordered the park of the next block. The timepiece caught a fleeting ray of moonlight and flashed thrice as the earl continued to wave it.

A few moments later, a fine yet nondescript black lacquered closed carriage dashed from dark end to them. The coachman grinned and then, greeted the earl. "Good evening, m'lord. Fine evening we're having..." He greeted with a thick Irish brogue.

Wolfeton was all business-like now. "Mr. Hatake, see to these men. I shall meet you in your townhouse as soon as I escort Miss Hyuuga home." Without preamble, he took Hinata's elbow and purposefully guided the young miss up the steps of a fine carriage. "To the Hyuuga Manor, McKinley."

Hina would have protested and resisted but the manner that the earl's jaw was set, warned that it was best to let him have his "peace".

"Aye, m'lord." The coachman McKinley replied.

McKinley smartly whipped the reins and the pair of well-matched foursome of black horses with silver-gray harness toddled into the night.

...

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"Bloody hell, woman." Naruto growled like the fierce beast he was called as he settled back to the luxurious silver-gray and black velvet squabs of the carriage. The Earl of Wolfeton tried to concentrate on some other thing than the searing pain on the upper part of his left arm where she had poured a liberal amount of whiskey.

Hinata was not surprised to find a bottle of a spirits in the vehicle. Her father, may the Almighty grant him eternal rest, used to do the same. According to the former head of the Hyuuga Clan it was supposed to drive off the chill of night such as this.

It did not register within Hinata to cringe at his tone, so focused she was on her task. His stark black jacket was bloodied and disregarded on the opposite seat. Hinata had removed it for him to gain a better access to his bullet wound. Fortunately, his trousers were of similar color and material, thus the bloodstains would hardly be visible. She could not say, however, the same thing for his silver satin waistcoat.

"Oh! You must have been positively crushed when I worried for my assailant than _you _—my savior." She said, rolling her almost-translucent eyes at him whilst she capped the bottle of spirits she used to prevent the wound from getting infected and thus, also duly stop the immediate and continual bleeding.

"Practically, crushed into fine dust particles." He said dryly but a bold smile was tugging the sides of his mouth at the sight of her leaning down to retrieve a hem of her gown. His eyes remained fixed at the low square-neckline of her evening gown's bodice as it tighten and exaggerated the exposed swells of the top of her breasts.

Naruto wanted to attribute the sudden increase of his body's temperature to the liquor... Dammit, if he only took a swing at the bottle INSTEAD the unknowing display of creamy female flesh. He knew that some supreme, heaven-dwelling being was adding a tally to his already-long list of transgressions.

"Silly man," she said, biting on a hem of her delicate deep violet and pale lavender gown with her teeth. Once the tear was pronounced, she ripped the delicate material into strips and deftly attended to the Wolfeton's bullet-pierced shoulder. "I did not know _you_ were hurt! After all, you did _not_ react whatsoever... I presumed that the brute's last bullet extracted to some aimless spot. "

"Now, I AM aimless?" His blue, blue eyes mockingly sorrowful... like a little hapless pup.

She had the sudden urge to whack the back of his blonde head at his deliberate obtuseness. Hinata checked the impulse, he was only trying to be humorous. She thought of the pain he must be in..._ Yes, that must be reason_... _he needed to get his mind off that pain_. She deduced. Hinata decided to indulge him by taking his statement seriously... "Now... why would you say that, my lord?"

"...you would _not _want to know."

"That wicked, huh?" She quirred, lifting a femininely arched dark eyebrow at his jest. She _tut-tut_ed her disappointment prettily as she took her original seat on the vehicle opposite to his. It was apparent that, regardless if she consciously... or unconsciously did that in supposition that the physical distance between them would help reinforce her sense of security from him.

A smart and perceptive chit, Naruto thought. The truth be told, he was feeling especially predatory. Wolfeton leaned deeper back to the soft squabs and tried to behave himself.

But when he saw the upturned curve on the corners of her lips and took that as an invitation. He saw that as sign that did NOT really mean what she said. Honestly, he was willing to use _any_ excuse to justify his next move.

Extending his uninjured arm, he yanked her off her seat to the space beside his seat. Abruptly, Naruto grabbed the lovely mass of dark hair behind her head and dragged it to his face. He slanted his mouth hungrily over hers. His bold advance was met with firm opposition— her firmly closed mouth.

_Shame on you if you fool me once. Shame on me if you fool me twice._ Hina thought. She was not going allow him to take liberties with her without a fight. _I will not let you think of me as the "fast" sort!_ _Once, I daresay is enough._ She was her parent's daughter. She was her esteem ancestors' descendant. It was their proud and illustrious blood that flows in her. And if that was not enough— she was also Miss Yuhi's pupil! She was a sensible and astute girl — she was _NOT _raised to be such a fool.

Realizing that he had to coax her participation only added to the thrill and his resolve to have her where he wanted her. Knowing he had to change tactics... His mouth immediately softened against hers—lazily shaping, lightly probing, and lingeringly maddening. And with this exquisite gentleness, she was stunned to stillness.

She recalled the way he looked in that moonlit balcony when he talked about _reputations_ lost— but somehow, all that struck Hina was how _lost _and _very sorry_ he was when faced with the prospect of subjecting_ HER reputation_ to Hades as well. She felt an ache in her heart for him. Hina could empathize with his plight of _that _moment! She knew what it was like to be forced by circumstance to do what was _necessary _rather that adhere to the dictates of personal conscience.

And from the stillness, came a rush of sensations that Hina could not identify... nor does she care to examine any further,_ as of the moment_. She tried to drag air to her lungs, but only accomplished a shaky breath. And from that tiniest of breaks, he seized the opportunity and breached her defenses. _Ah, victory is sweet... _He thought when she finally yielded her mouth to his seeking tongue.

Hina felt her heart hammer in her chest, and his hand glide up and tighten into the first inch of her nape's hairline... before, sensually glide back down the point where her neck and shoulders meet. She leaned against him, sliding her hands up to the hard muscles of his chest, over his shoulders, arching her body as she brought his body closer to her... Ever so slowly, he gently pushed her back to the silver-gray seat and straddled her. It was like her body wanted to meet, mold and forge with his. Then, suddenly his kissing became hard, urgent... irresistibly primitive. His hands shifted, at first to slide at the sides of her breast... now, started to caress them.

Some part of her mind cried out a warning, but she was already too far out at sea by these sweeping sensations that she could not possibly make it back to shore. _No!_ She walled her hands over his chest and at the slightest pressure Naruto leaped back and broke the contact.

She finally regained her wits and her voice. She said, a tad bit too dazedly... a tab bit too breathless. "It occurs to me... that was meant to prevent my person from probing an answer from you, my lord."

Naruto mentally shook his head free of the 'pervy twist' _he_ added to her words. The earl grimaced, he could just see that supreme, heaven-dwelling being adding more, more, and more strokes to the tally of his transgressions. "A_ human _person than a fountain of information. Did or did you not say?"

Hinata busied righting her disheveled hair, her rounched (and purposely) up skirts. "Touché." Her mouth reluctantly twisting to a side on her face.

He never saw her smile that way before. "May I query what brought that smile about?"

"I was quite flattered that his lordship actually listened to something I said. Bluntly, nobody _truly _cared to (or at least!) listen to and of the things that escaped the filter of drummed-into-ones-head propriety and courtesy that has escaped my lips..." _Until you_. She silently added, for some reason... she could not confidently confide that latter addition to him.

Suddenly—for some reason, she could not trust herself to act a certain way with him. Hina caught her lower lip as the realization struck her— she never acted a certain way with him at all.

She was completely herself! In the balcony, when she openly admired the way the moonlight made him look like an angel with water-blue eyes... when she practically shrilled like a fish-monger's wife as she defended Ino and Temari from his sharp tongue... when she purposely 'slapped' him with her skirts as she left him after he helped her escape the "scene of the crime"...

Hina slipped on her gloves as thoughtfully as she could, buying her time as she tried to put her thoughts to some sort of order. She could not have him sensing that something was vexing her thoughts. It was not her intention to lie to him— all she wanted was to be the best that she can be... And the "best she can be" was if she was to become what the _ton_ wanted from a young lady with connections, lineage and money like her.

_I just realized... I am nothing like what they want me to be._

"What is on your mind?"

Despite her efforts, she could not perfect Sakura's innocently bewildered expression.

Hina saw the way that he frowned down at her when she attempted to copy _The Paragon_.

"It is nothing of importance, my lord." She said, interjecting some of the Lady Ino's confidence.

"Nothing of importance." Naruto repeated, most nastily. But something in his tone made Hina fully grasp the reality that he did not believe her, and this was his way of telling her of his stand.

Hina knew that she'll never be as perfect as Sakura or as confident as Ino—although Miss Yuhi told her over and over again that she was special _too_, Hinata could not help but feel... disappointingly _average_ and_ plain_. Somehow, when _he_ said that—the lie almost seemed to be the truth.

_I have failed to be what the _Ton _has demanded me to be... I am a failure, your lordship. What do you need a Failure for?_

What does he _truly_ want from me? Hina wondered, casting a fleeting look at the blonde earl's handsome, shrouded profile as he gazed out the window. This "need" as he put it, cannot be bore out of nothing.

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End of **Chapter Four**

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Author's Notes: It's **2:38 **_**am**_! Whoa, this chapter is finally done! Gotta head off to bed. But first— before I completely doze off...

Hello there. Here are some clarifications—as you can see, Ino's of noble lineage, thus, she has to be called, 'Lady Ino', _'my lady'_ by her peerage. But since Hina and Sakura are a little bit more than acquaintances and a little less than friends (what I mean to say is, the three girls are not _close friends_), they get to call her by her given name (Ino) but in this chappie I had them address each other formally (they were practicing 'polite conversation', you see.). I also added a _2nd name _to the characters just to make them seem a bit more 'at home' in England in the late 18th century... Please be guided. :)

This chapter (esp. the _later _parts!) could not have been done without _"Until You" _by_ Judith McNaught_! I was really stuck and reading the book really helped heaps!

Do review! Where did I go wrong? Corrections you think I need to tackle (please, point out)?

Thank you very much for your continued support!

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